The Best New Restaurants in the World: 2024 Hot List

Sim Canetty-Clarke/Fish Shop

Fish Shop — Ballater, Scotland

Despite its name, Fish Shop is not a classic British chippy but a smart, sustainability-focused seafood restaurant with its very own fishmonger. The double-use venue is the sister property of Scotland’s slickest hotel, the Fife Arms, which is located just 25 minutes away. Russell Sage Studio (who also designed the Fife Arms interiors) chose tasteful nautical accents to complement the food. The menu is local and seasonal but might include Cape Wrath oysters in Champagne tempura or Shetland mussels with East Coast cured nduja. Whatever you order, accompany it with a round of Negronis (local gin and vermouth with Campari, pimped up with samphire), followed by glasses of Riesling or Picpoul. —Sarah James

Koan — Copenhagen

At windswept Langelinieskuret, Kristian Baumann (formerly of Noma and 108) has transformed a former harbor warehouse into a must-visit on Copenhagen’s strong fine-dining scene. Born and adopted in South Korea and raised in Denmark, Baumann reconnects with his roots at Koan, seamlessly bridging a Nordic culinary upbringing with Korean impressions like kimchi, kkwabaegi (Korean doughnuts), and carefully selected ceramics. Koan’s high-ceilinged dining room with an open kitchen and sleek light wooden designer interiors beautifully mirrors Baumann’s minimalist and meticulous dishes. A standout is Norwegian langoustine with lardo, green strawberries, and chili, served with a sesame sauce flavored with Korean rice wine. Aside from standard and “prestige” wine pairings (the latter showcasing rare labels), Koan offers a pairing of Korean sool (fermented rice wine) produced in Copenhagen by startup Yunguna Brewery. Only 70 days after opening last year, the restaurant received two Michelin stars directly—a testament to the ambitions here. —Lars Roest-Madsen

Following years of turmoil in their native Lebanon, Beirut creative collective Factory People transplanted their thoughtfully curated restaurant, listening room, and communal hub Soul Kitchen to Dubai’s Business Bay. The food—Levantine/Latin hybrid that celebrates waves of Arab migration to Central and South America—is, indeed, soulful: Think ceviche tabbouleh, hummus chimichurri, shawarma empanadas, and Wagyu kafta in pillowy arepas paired with Araki bellinis and sumac-laced peach margaritas. But musically minded locals have also forged a community around Monday jazz sessions, Latin Sundays, iftar supper clubs, and party brunches with global musicians and DJs taking the stage. The lush, plant-filled space also doubles as an arts venue: Rumi Dalle’s Feathers of a Migration is suspended from the ceiling, and walls are adorned with textiles curated by carpet house Iwan Maktabi. —Sarah Khan

Ilis — New York

The large nondescript door at 150 Green Street in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint prepares you little for what’s to follow. Behind it lies a sprawling space with wood-beamed ceilings and low-slung white furniture that has shed all vestiges of its former life as a factory warehouse. This is Ilis, Noma cofounder Mads Refslund’s ambitious New York dining debut alongside Will Douillet, formerly of Chicago’s Alinea. The name is a portmanteau of Il and Is, or “fire” and “ice” in Danish, which illustrates how you choose your dishes to be served: fired up or chilled. An industrial open kitchen—with four stations, two each dedicated to “fire” and “ice”—anchors the space, and diners watch on as a flurry of chefs works in near-reverential silence. Those same chefs later double up as servers; here, there’s no traditional distinction between front and back of house—just “one house,” as Refslund likes to say. On the menu, expect ingredient-forward dishes like raw tuna with nasturtium and salted plum and brown trout, cooked in its own roe butter and served with charred cabbage. A dining highlight here is the roving trolley that’s laden with chilled appetizers and a surprising amuse-bouche—a peppery tomato clam broth served in a large, slightly ridiculous clamshell fashioned into a flask. As you tip its contents down your throat, the act feels both primal and playful—it’s a decidedly Noma touch, right in Brooklyn. —Arati Menon

​​Eleven Madison Park alum Hussain Shahzad’s eclectic skills are on full display at this fine-dining concept, a 12-seat countertop that overlooks an open kitchen in the space above Veronica’s, a bustling sandwich shop. The vibe is a delightful hodgepodge: Delicate glass lamps share space with a chamber for dry-aging duck, and the chef’s playlist of ABBA and Prince pairs nicely with the easygoing service. The modern Indian menu makes clever use of the nation’s many home-grown ingredients: Clarified Bloody Mary cocktails arrive alongside petite pizza boxes of Monaco biscuits (India’s Ritz cracker) topped with Belper Knolle cheese; hibachi-grilled rabbit is served in a red-ant marinade; and a soup of sun-dried yak cheese is amped up by habanero chiles. The name Papa’s is a nod to Shahzad’s late mentor, chef Floyd Cardoz—whom he does proud. —Julian Manning

After closing Locavore, a hot-ticket and hyperlocal eatery in Bali’s Ubud late last year, Dutch Indonesian chef duo Eelke Plasmeijer and Ray Adriansyah moved on to open the concept’s aptly named next iteration. Pitched up in the rice fields just outside Ubud, concrete-clad Locavore NXT takes the chefs’ wildly ambitious methods to a new extreme with 20(ish)-course tasting menus that draw on ingredients grown in the rooftop food forest, subterranean mushroom vault, and koji fermentation lab—and ones sourced from surrounding farmers, fishermen, and foragers. Seasonal menus could include imaginative creations such as honi pineapple with lardo and flower-flecked pudding from rice koji with bee pollen. For a full immersion in Locavore NXT’s closed-loop ethos, guests can overnight in one of the restaurant’s adjoining cabins and participate in a chef-guided tour and staff breakfast the next day. —Chris Schalkx

At Pot Au Phở, Vietnamese banker turned chef Peter Cuong Franklin sets new standards for Vietnam’s beloved noodle soup, his 10-course tasting menu deconstructing phở and then reassembling the iconic bone broth. Inspired by French and Japanese fare, Cuong also plays with molecular cuisine and jellied consommé, even paying tribute to French chef Paul Bocuse’s legendary black truffle VGE soup. Perhaps the most cherished dish is Mom’s mì Quảng, a traditional prawn and pork turmeric noodle soup prepared by his mother, Nguyễn Thị Như Thừa, at her Đà Lạt rice noodle shop; he was sent to the US as a child refugee, and they reconnected 30 years later. Housed in the same building as Cuong’s Michelin-starred Anan in the thick of the wet market on District 1’s That Dam street, the soup counter is designed for just 14 guests. Order the Phojito, mixed with fresh herbs and spices like cinnamon and star anise —Sorrel Moseley-Williams

Air — Singapore

At this sprawling space—an erstwhile clubhouse for civil servants—in Singapore’s leafy Dempsey enclave, chef Matthew Orlando (who used to pilot Copenhagen’s influential Amass) is continuing his mission to make circular cooking as natural as, well, breathing air. You’ll know this isn’t your typical restaurant from the moment you enter, up a sweeping walkway and past a thriving tropical garden commanded by Orlando’s business partner, Will Goldfarb of Bali’s Room4Dessert. In the dining room, funky tables hewn from the leftover cores of balau trees and chairs with arms twirled out of recycled Styrofoam play off exposed concrete pillars. Orlando’s tasty zero-waste approach to Southeast Asian ingredients includes dishes like a whole coral fish transformed into a rillette with lavash made from the puréed bones of the fish. Don’t miss the surprisingly fudgy Re-Incarnated Chocolate dessert whipped up with the by-products of common food processes—none of which are chocolate or cocoa beans. Upstairs, there’s a pickling and fermentation room, a cooking school, and a research lab where anyone can dabble in food experiments. —Audrey Phoon

Oseille — Rio de Janeiro

In late 2023, chef Thomas Troisgros—the fourth generation of the renowned French culinary dynasty—opened Toto as something like a Parisian neo-bistro, but with a menu inspired by the chef’s travels around the world. Nestled within a townhouse in the vibrant center of Ipanema, the casual restaurant was a quick hit. Troisgros recognized the potential for an elevated dining experience, however, and envisioned Oseille in the vacant upper part of the same building. With the help of a three-member team, the chef fashioned a 16-seat counter around a well-equipped kitchen, where he now exclusively serves signature tasting menus (five or seven courses) that change from time to time—but they’re always anchored in local and seasonal ingredients, combining his French heritage with Asian influences, all topped with a Brazilian accent. The level of hospitality makes diners feel as if they’re being welcomed into the chef’s home—visitors can even choose their preferred background music. —Rafael Tonon

Sydney hospitality maestros Swillhouse have savvy locals tackling the tourist-drenched cobblestones of The Rocks for their latest swing-and-hit restaurant, Le Foote. Part Parisian wine bar, part Mediterranean grill, the restaurant is a sandstone labyrinth of nooks, crannies, and choose-your-own-adventure spaces in a sprawling former pub. The alfresco courtyard is just the place for fluffy fish sandwiches and carafes of orange wine. Upstairs, settle into the moody candle-lit bar and order two-sip martinis to a soundtrack of funky jazz. The main dining room is draped in dramatic Greco-Roman style, with giant Etruscan canvas murals, white tablecloths, and smart waiters in crisp shirts. Most of the Mediterranean-by-way-of-Australia menu is done on the Josper grill, and hits include fleshy barramundi in charred hazelnut butter, marbled tomahawk steaks, juicy tomato picante prawns, and a gooey cheese pie. Suddenly, Sydney’s oldest neighborhood feels fresh again. —Chloe Sachdev

Nikkei — Cape Town

On perennially cool Bree Street, Nikkei brings its namesake cuisine to Cape Town. Executive chef Justin Barker displays his range with a menu that marries South American spices and ingredients with bright seafood—think shrimp crudo with ancho chili oil and sesame tuna with guacamole and a lime-jalapeño ponzu—and a robust cocktail menu that showcases both sake and pisco. The modern space, decorated with a riot of tropical plants, feels just right as the backdrop for Barker’s vibrant food. Look up and you’ll see oblong chandeliers shaped like chakanas, a symbol that has been used by Andean societies for over 4,000 years, which fittingly signifies a “bridge” or “a crossing over.” —Harriet Akinyi